A jaguar documented repeatedly in southern Arizona this year remains in the region as construction continues on border barriers through a key wildlife corridor connecting Arizona and Mexico.
The Center for Biological Diversity released new trail-camera footage Aug. 11 showing an adult male jaguar known as Cinco north of the San Rafael Valley in June and late July. The jaguar had previously been documented in the area in March, April and May, according to Russ McSpadden, Southwest conservation advocate for the center.
Cinco was first documented in the United States by University of Arizona researchers in late 2025, according to the center. Since then, he has moved through the Sky Island region of Southern Arizona, where mountain ranges and the valleys between them provide habitat and routes for wildlife traveling between the United States and Mexico.
McSpadden said researchers do not have telemetry data for Cinco because the jaguar is not fitted with a tracking collar. Instead, researchers piece together his movements from trail-camera detections.
“Every time we see one in the camera, it’s a new piece of data,” McSpadden said. “It’s really important.”
The San Rafael Valley is among the remaining cross-border wildlife corridors in the region. A July 2025 report from the Center for Biological Diversity described the valley as a connection between the Huachuca and Patagonia mountains and habitat used by jaguars, ocelots, black bears, pronghorn and other species.
McSpadden said the broader region is particularly significant because wildlife associated with ecosystems farther north and south converge in southern Arizona.
“It’s why we have black bears and jaguars moving down the same canyons,” McSpadden said.
The center’s report said at least 17 large wildlife species have been documented crossing existing vehicle barriers or cattle fencing in the San Rafael Valley. It also identified the region as having the highest number of modern jaguar detections in the United States.
Cinco is one of four jaguars McSpadden said have used the broader corridor since 2015.
“All of those cats moved around between various mountains and across the valleys that connect them in that area,” McSpadden said.
Construction is underway on border barriers through the San Rafael Valley. The Center for Biological Diversity said a primary wall began going up in September 2025, and the Trump administration issued a contract in May for a second wall across the valley.
McSpadden said construction has already reduced the amount of open terrain available for wildlife movement. Gaps remain in some sections, including large washes and rugged areas of the Huachuca and Patagonia mountains where construction is more difficult.
“They’re effectively cut off from a great deal of the pathway, but there are still pathways at this moment for jaguars,” McSpadden said. “For how long, we don’t know.”
The center argues that completing the barriers could prevent jaguars from moving between habitat in Arizona and breeding populations in Mexico. Jaguars can travel dozens of miles, McSpadden said, making cross-border connectivity particularly important.
If the second wall is completed, he said, “this corridor would be completely sealed off.”
That could also leave Cinco north of the border and separated from breeding populations in Mexico.
“If this wall is sealed while Cinco is here in the United States, he would be effectively walled off from the breeding population in Mexico,” McSpadden said.
Research cited in the center’s 2025 report found border walls substantially reduce wildlife movement. A 2024 Sky Island Alliance study documented 17 large species crossing existing vehicle barriers or cattle fencing in the San Rafael Valley and found border walls decreased cross-border wildlife crossings by 86% in the areas studied.
McSpadden said the effects extend beyond jaguars. Black bears and pronghorn are among the larger animals that depend on connections across the valley, while ocelots have been detected in the region.
“There’s just lots of interesting and complicated ways in which this could affect a lot of wildlife in terms of blocking it,” he said. “We’re talking about animals bigger than a bobcat being blocked.”
The wall construction has prompted protests near Lochiel in the San Rafael Valley. Protesters began occupying an old Fremont cottonwood tree July 29 in an effort to prevent contractors from removing it. The action followed the removal of three neighboring cottonwoods that the Center for Biological Diversity estimated were 200 to 250 years old.
McSpadden said the trees are part of a riparian ecosystem that provides habitat for migratory birds and other wildlife.
“Cottonwoods signify water beneath the surface, and there’s also surface water,” McSpadden said. “It’s this really lush area in the San Rafael Valley.”
The tree sit also reflects broader opposition to wall construction in the valley, he said.
“I think people, the local community, and even more broadly in southern Arizona, really value the San Rafael Valley,” McSpadden said. “People don’t want to see the San Rafael walled.”
The Department of Homeland Security has used federal authority to waive environmental laws for border wall construction. The center’s report says those waivers include laws such as the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act.
The Center for Biological Diversity sent a letter July 29 asking the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection to halt construction near Lochiel while biological and cultural resource surveys are conducted and consultation occurs with Tribes that have ancestral and cultural connections to the area.
Jaguars are federally protected as endangered in the United States. The species once occupied a much larger portion of the Southwest but largely disappeared from the U.S. portion of its range after decades of predator eradication, hunting and habitat loss, according to the center.
The center petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2022 to reintroduce jaguars in Arizona and New Mexico. McSpadden said establishing a breeding population in the United States could happen in two ways: Female jaguars could naturally move north from Mexico, or wildlife officials could establish a reintroduction program.
“We know that there’s females not far south of the border, and there would have to be a way for them to naturally cross the border,” McSpadden said. “As soon as one does, you would have a really good start to a breeding population north of the border.”
A reintroduction program would be a significant undertaking requiring time, public discussion and political support, McSpadden said.
“Reintroductions are just big projects,” he said. “It’s something that will take a lot of time, a lot of conversation, a lot of communication and, yeah, a lot of social and political will.”
For now, Cinco’s continued presence gives researchers evidence that some routes through the region remain open. McSpadden said the trail-camera footage also suggests the jaguar is finding adequate food in Arizona.
“He’s a big cat, and his belly sways when he walks,” McSpadden said. “He’s very well fed in Arizona, which is proof that this is an incredible habitat for a big apex predator like that.”
McSpadden said his hope is simple: that Cinco continues to survive in the region and that the connections jaguars need remain available.
“I hope he lives a long and happy life,” he said.
